GANGS of yobs making life a misery for residents in Ellesmere Port can be split up by police from next week.

Cheshire Constabulary and the borough council have declared areas of Overpool and Rivacre a 'dispersal zone' under new powers given to authorities by the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003.

This states that groups of two or more people who have 'intimidated, harassed, alarmed or distressed members of the public' can be ordered to split up and leave the zone by a police constable in uniform or a community support officer.

Supt Ian Hopkins, the town's police commander, said: 'The nominated area is, in the main, a good place to live and the vast majority of residents are good people.

'However, working in conjunction with the local authority, we aim to help local residents feel safer by targeting the minority of people committing acts of anti-social behaviour and disrupting the quality of life.

'The area has been identified as a dispersal zone because of this problem. During the first three months of this year 81 youth nuisance-related incidents have been recorded in the dispersal area alone. That's more than 13% of the 595 youth nuisance-related incidents in the whole of the borough.'

He added: 'We know from the experience of other forces that these orders are effective in dealing with anti-social behaviour.

'The powers help us target the minority who cause unnecessary harassment and disruption.'

Under the Act, officers are also empowered to escort home children aged 16 and under if they are found unaccompanied by an adult and displaying anti-social behaviour in the dispersal zone after 9pm.

Troublemakers who fail to change their ways are at risk of more formal action being taken against themselves and their parents, such as Anti-social Behaviour Orders and Parenting Orders.

Anti-social behaviour has been an increasing problem in the dispersal area since the start of the year, with more than 100 crimes committed, including stones being thrown at patrolling officers.

A variety of tactics have been used to tackle the problem, such as Anti-social Behaviour Orders, Accepted Behaviour Contracts, increased CCTV coverage, targeted patrolling and Operation Yellow Card.

Supt Hopkins said: 'The dispersal zone scheme allows us for the first time to have the power to actually move people away before trouble is caused.'

The borough council's chief executive, Stephen Ewbank, said: 'We fully support the introduction of a dispersal zone in this area where a minority of young people are disrupting the lives of residents.'

Insp Adele Jones, of the Chester and Ellesmere Port CAT, said: 'We want to make it clear that this new power doesn't mean people will be asked to disperse for no reason.

'The dispersal powers will only be used if an officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the presence or behaviour of a group of two or more persons in any public place has resulted in, or is likely to result in, any members of the public being intimidated, harassed, alarmed or distressed.'